Ontvoering in Thailand (Vandersteen comic)/plot
Biggles runs out of petrol on a motoring trip near the English coast. He makes his way a forest where he meets two gamekeepers who invite him to spend the night at their lodge. The family of gamekeepers, the Stuckleys are employed on the estate of Dowfield Manor, property of one Sir Steffans, who now lives in Bangkok with his Thai wife. Grandfather Stuckley tells everyone over dinner that he saw men flying in the sky and landing on the roof of the castle of Dowfield Manor, but the others dismiss him as a drunk. Next morning however, Biggles sees a light from the castle and goes to investigate. He spots a man taking off on a jet pack! Inside the castle, he is jumped by another man and knocked out in the scuffle. The assailant might have shot him but the Stuckleys intervene in time. They spot the man leaving, flying out to sea on a jetpack and landing on a yacht. Biggles notifies the coast guard but they can't find the yacht. It has sailed into a large freighter with openeable stern doors! Biggles reports to his boss, Colonel Lottison in Hong Kong. They contact Sir Steffans but he dismisses the incident, refusing to connect the facts that the intruders and his wife were both Thai (Biggles recognised that he had been knocked out by a Thai boxing move). Lottison is puzzled. The scale of the operation suggested that the intruders were after something important so he sends Biggles to Bangkok. Biggles finds a bug and a wire in his hotel room. It leads to a recorder in the next room. From the chambermaid, he learns that it belongs to a dancer named Bopha who performs at the Orchid Night Club, so Biggles goes there. Biggles is surprised to see Sir Steffans there. After Bopha's dance, she leaves the club and Steffans follows her, wanting to talk to her. Two toughs suddenly set upon Sir Steffans. Biggles rushes to his aid but Bopha pulls a gun and she and the toughs run away. Steffans takes Biggles to his house and starts by telling him that his intervention only complicates matters. His enemy is Borsza, the dictator of a foreign country. Steffans once worked in one of his embassies and has a document which could bring about his downfall. Now Borsza has sent a gang called the Green Dragon to kidnap his wife in exchange for the document. Bopha is his contact and in eight days, he will be called and then he must hand over the document. Biggles decides to go into hiding and stays for a while with Kham, a friend of Steffans who knows where Bopha may be found. Kham takes Biggles by boat to a village where there is a training camp for Thai boxers. Bopha turns up there to meet her Thai boxer friend Than. She believes Biggles has left Bangkok and wants further instructions--can she continue to perform at the Orchid Club now that her cover appears blown? Than contacts the Green Dragon gang by radio and Biggles eavesdrops using a bug. Than needs to bring Bopha to the hiding place of the Green Dragon and Biggles follows their car with a tracking beacon to a ruined temple in the jungle. The ruins is Than's rendezvous with the Green Dragon gang. Soon a man turns up in a jetpack. But he doesn't take Than and Bopha to the Green Dragon hideout yet. First he wants to know how Biggles traced Bopha to the Orchid Night Club. Bopha doesn't know. The man says the Green Dragon does not forgive mistakes and draws his gun but Than knocks him out and they flee. Biggles now takes the opportunity to attach his tracking device to the jetpack. The Green Dragon operative recovers and pursues Than's car in the jetpack and kills Than and Bopha. He then heads for the gang hideout to announce that his mission is accomplished. Not quite--Biggles has tracked him and sneaks into the compound. The Green Dragon leader sees the intruder alarm being triggered and kills the jetpack operative for giving away the location--he doesn't forgive mistakes! Biggles finds the Green Dragon alone and holds him up and demands Dara be freed. The Green Dragon tells him to pick up the keys himself, which Biggles does, only it gives him an electric shock and makes him drop his gun! The tables are turned and now the Green Dragon's men hold Biggles up but he decides to pull a trick. He takes out a pocket watch which he claims is a bomb--and threatens to blow everyone up if Dara is not freed. The Green Dragon calls the agents of Borsza for a decision. The reply comes saying Biggles may leave with Mrs Steffans if he gives his word to return the document and not give away the location of the Green Dragon hideout. Soon, an agent of Borsza brings Dara. The Borsza agent takes Biggles and Dara out of the Green Dragon lair but he is not finished. He tosses a gas grenade into the hideout and eliminates the whole gang--Borsza doesn't forgive mistakes, he tells Biggles. Biggles brings Dara to Sir Steffan's house. They are happy to be reunited but suddenly Dara falls ill. It turns out Borsza's agents have injected Dara with a virus. Only they have the serum and they will only supply it if Steffans hands over the document. Biggles tells Steffans to accept the deal while he thinks of a solution. The agents of Borsza turn up with the serum and Dara is cured. Biggles hands over the document and the agents prepare to leave. But Biggles has one last trick up his sleeve. He tells the agents that he has made a copy of the document and it is sitting safe in his office in Hong Kong. He gives them his word that the document will not be used if the Steffans are left in peace. He tells the agents to give the original document to Borsza and not mention the copy--after all Borsza does not forgive mistakes! The agents leave but a group of Thais outside give them a beating--Kham has arranged a farewell committee for them! With his mission accomplished, Biggles returns to Hong Kong. Category:Plot summaries (derivative works)